More than two decades later, the duo reprise their roles while screenwriter Jordan Weiss raises the stakes with further complications in “Freakier Friday” (Disney). While not a knee-slapper, the sequel is at least mostly wholesome.
Movie Review: ‘The Naked Gun’
For most of its running time, the intermittently amusing comedy “The Naked Gun” (Paramount), a sendup of the hardboiled cop genre, qualifies as a fun spoof that’s appropriate for most grown-ups. Yet its one sequence of utterly tasteless sexual sight gags will leave discerning viewers anything but entertained.
Movie Review: ‘The Bad Guys 2’
Now joined by co-director J.P. Sans, Perifel has crafted an equally enjoyable follow-up, “The Bad Guys 2” (Universal). While this second installment continues the ensemble’s conversion story, the script — on which the first movie’s writer, Etan Cohen, collaborated with Yoni Brenner — also includes enough potty-centric material to annoy at least some parents.
Movie Review: ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’
Set in an alternate version of the mid-1960s, director Matt Shakman’s Marvel Comics adaptation “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” (Disney) can fairly be called the TWA Hotel of superhero movies.
Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon
Capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.
Movie Review: ‘Smurfs’
With “Smurfs,” a blend of animation and live action, director Chris Miller has given the titular blue elves, Belgian cartoonist Peyo’s trademark creatures, a big-screen reboot. Although his would-be fresh start promotes positive values and is mostly free of problematic material, it’s also numbingly uninteresting.
Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon
Capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.
Movie Review: ‘Eddington’
Adult viewers willing to grapple with harsh material will find that the well-crafted but bleak dark comedy “Eddington” (A24) inspires some uneasy laughs. Those in search of light entertainment, by contrast, should definitely look elsewhere.
Movie Review: ‘Superman’
In the spring of 1938, when the figure of Superman made his first appearance in the pages of DC’s “Action Comics #1,” President Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts to combat the Great Depression via the New Deal were at their height. There had as yet been only one world war and Lou Gehrig was still playing for the New York Yankees.
Movie Review: ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’
Some 35 years ago, author Michael Crichton pondered the disastrous implications of using DNA to revive various species of dinosaurs. Suffice it to say that the consequences of this ill-advised fictional project, as chronicled on screen across the decades, have borne little resemblance to an episode of “The Flintstones.”
Movie Review: ‘M3GAN 2.0’
The same crackling wit that marked the 2022 debut of the murderously malfunctioning android of the title is present again as she makes a seemingly unlikely comeback in “M3GAN 2.0” (Universal). As was the case with the original film, however, her latest adventures are best savored by mature moviegoers.
Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon
Capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.